Yeast Bread, Quick or Easy (But Not Both)

I love homemade bread - too much, actually, because when I make it, I don't want anything else. A beef or chicken sandwich for dinner, bread and butter and jelly for breakfast, bread and soup for lunch...but when the weather gets hot, there's no way I'm going to fire up the oven to bake it. There are two options and I use both of them at different times.

First, there's fried yeast bread. I've written about this elsewhere (and maybe here, too) several times, but basically, you just use a recipe for yeast loaf bread and instead of baking it, you fry it. After it's all kneaded and rested for a few minutes, pinch off walnut size pieces, flatten them and let them rest a moment while the skillet heats up. If you have a nonstick or a cast iron, you won't absolutely need oil, but it tastes better if you use a little. In a skillet that needs oil, use just enough to keep it from sticking. Heat the skillet to medium heat and fry the bread until itls browned on each side. Brush it with a little butter while it's still hot.

The other way I make bread when it's too hot to use the oven is in a solar oven. It's an art and a science but it's fun no matter how you look at it. You can buy solar ovens all ready to go or you can make your own inexpensively. Either way, it costs nothing at all to operate.

Comments

Why without a bread machine? I love mine and am one of the few who use it regularly. I invested in one that makes regular shaped loaves vs the odd looking ones of the old bread machines. It takes up a bit more space on the counter top but I only drag it out once a week.

I throw in the ingredients and in three hours I have a loaf. I also use the dough setting, as I make my own hamburger buns and dinner rolls. I think I have quick and easy as the only time I really count is the time spent filling it and the fun part, emptying it!

It's just me, Cheryl. To me it seems like if you wanted a machine to do it, it would be easier to just go and buy it. Or buy the frozen dough and bake it. Making bread from scratch means making it by hand... to me. :)

:-) I have a bread machine and have had for years. I love yeast bread but sometimes I don't really have time, or my arthritis is acting up. My MIL used to make fun of me, saying I wasn't making real bread. She now owns two of them. I can't fry bread, since cholesterol is a problem for me. Like Cheryl, my bread machine keeps me in preservative free bread. Not to mention awesome pizza dough. :-)

A solar oven does not take the place of a bread machine. It takes the place of a conventional oven. And it doesn't cost me a penny to operate it. ;)

Anyway, I don't have a bread machine and I don't want one. I also don't have a dishwasher or a vacuum cleaner, paper towels or paper napkins, etc. If others do, that's their choice. They're paying for it, not me! LOL

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